A friend just handed me a copy of the "Green Pages 2008" published by the SSBN (Susquehanna Sustainable Business Network). It contains an article I would like to post in two parts.
Why Buy Locally Owned?
According to Michael H. Shuman, author of the book Going Local:
“Going local does not mean walling off the outside world. It means nurturing locally owned businesses which use local resources sustainably,employ local workers at decent wages and serve primarily local customers. It means becoming more self-sufficient and less dependent on imports. Control moves from the boardrooms of distant corporations and back into the community where it belongs.” We realize it is not always possible to buy what you need locally and so merely ask you to think local first!
10 Reasons To Think Local — Buy Local — Be Local
1. Recirculate Money in the Neighborhood. When you buy from an independent, locally owned business, rather than a nationally
owned business, significantly more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms — continuing to strengthen the economic base of our community.
2. Lesson Environmental Impact. Independent businesses make purchases that use less transportation, and local businesses tend
to locate in town centers that generally contribute less to pollution,sprawl, habitat loss, and congestion. Purchasing local food and products significantly reduces air pollution by reducing the freight shipments into our community.
3. Support Nonprofits. Charities and nonprofits receive an average of 350 percent more support from local business owners than from nonlocal owners.
4. Keep Our Community Vibrant and Unique. Lancaster and York Counties have a unique blend of lovely old architecture and new, interesting, one-of-a-kind businesses. As chain stores proliferate and move into our neighborhoods, they change the character of our cities, giving them a strip-mall blandness. Economic research shows that entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their distinctive character.
Five through ten will be posted the next chance I get or you may click this post's title to go to the Green Pages 2008 directory in pdf format.
